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Chapter 003: Wish You Well
Wish You Well (あなたも希望, Anata mo Kibō) is the third chapter of the Heartz Journey Arc in the Roads to Regional Saga. Lowen just needs to win one more match and he'll earn a spot in the GIC Qualifier. But he's faced with a moral dilemma of either pursuing his own dreams or follow in his father's footsteps and remain in Whorl to care for his little brother, Aeben. Part 1. Measuring a Rank Lowen spent the rest of the afternoon letting his muscles relax, drinking several shakes filled with vitamins and muscle recovery agents. His eyes are glued to the large display screen over the running machines that showed today's GIFL matches, smaller screens below the main one list Julian Region GIFL members. These lists are broken down by league type and their locations. The names are then organized by their rankings: A-Class at the top and E-Class down at the bottom. Constantly updating as new members join and current ones move up and down the list. As the list scrolls down, he sees his name under the local leagues: Lowen Heartz, Whorl, C-Class. There he was right in the middle. If he wanted to move up a rank, he would need to join the Circuit, the highest tier league reserved for champion potential fighters. He knew in his heart that he had the stuff that makes legends. Like his dad, a former Julian Regional Champion. But the desire to be the best was often overshadowed by Aeben's well-being. Lowen loves his little brother and could never leave him. He feels the weight in his chest as the thoughts of losing Aeben drifted in unexpectedly. He's startled when he feels his little brother's hand tug on his. Lowen breaks from the thought and looks to his side. He sees Aeben's ruby eyes staring up at him. His little brother got those eyes from their mother. Many people comment on how much he takes after their mother, while Lowen took after Rob in so many ways. "What's up?" "What are you thinking about?" Aeben asks and looks at the list. "Are you worried about your ranking?" Lowen sighs with a smile. "That obvious?" He takes another sip of drink. "I just need one more match and I can get to the next level. The Circuit. And then all of our problems will be over." "You mean my problem, don't you?" Aeben corrected his older brother, catching Lowen off guard and placing a worry on his face. "I'm not dumb, Lowen. I know you and Uncle Rubin are worried about me. And I know that the medicine isn't working any more." Even though Aeben is only 13 years old, he is very smart. Much smarter than a boy his age. Unlike Lowen, Aeben dedicated himself to his studies, excelling in school and being the top of his class. He can easily identify when someone is lying to him and Lowen was never good at it. "Its gonna be alright. We'll find a way." Lowen raises a fist in front of Aeben and holds it out to him. "We always do. We're Heartz." Aeben smiles softly and taps Lowen's fist with his own. "So what do you feel like doing now?" Aeben asks. "I finished all my homework already." "We could take a walk around the city if you like." Lowen smiles warmly. "The ferry doesn't leave for another two hours. Do you want to get ice cream?" Aeben's face lights up with the prospect of getting his favorite desert. And Julius is known for having some of the best ice cream shops in BattleScar. Lowen packs his gear and throws on his jacket. They walk past Diandra and wave her goodbye. She responds to it silently as she listens to someone on the communicator she's holding up to her ear. Sometime later, the Heartz brothers are enjoying a treat for themselves on a bench overlooking the beach. Lowen giggles to himself knowing that Rubin would chew him out for eating sweets so early after working out. But Lowen takes comfort into thinking that a person should be able to enjoy themselves. "When you win your next match, will that put you in the qualifiers?" Aeben asks while licking the sides of his ice cream cone. Lowen, distracted by the attractive young ladies walking past him in their bikinis, turns back to Aeben. "Yup. One more win and I can fight in the GIC Qualifiers. Uncle Rubin's gonna keep me posted when the list gets updated. Should be soon. Hopefully." Lowen winks at another woman who walks by and gives her a smile. His ego grows when she responds with a smile herself before continuing with her walk. "What happens if you win?" "That'll put me in the Circuit." Lowen responds to his little brother. "I can finally start earning some serious credits for you, for us. I can pay for the more expensive treatments to get you cured. AND I can restore the Heartz Family name to where it should be." Aeben could sense his brother's words are filled with passion as he spoke more intently. "The world will know how strong we are. Once I'm in the Circuit, I'll need to earn more wins before I can go for the championship. But when that happens, nothing's gonna get in our way and I'll be the next GIFL Champion. You can believe that, Aeben." Part 2. Small Fight The two brothers were sharing a laugh as they walked down the alley between two towering buildings. Their height blocking out the warm sun and casting a shadow on them. Steam pours out of vents nearby. Lowen and Aeben are making their way towards the dock to pick up their ferry back to Whorl, taking this shortcut to make it there early. Lowen teases his younger brother, while Aeben pretends to want to fight his older brother. "Hey, man, you got any change?" A mysterious voice comes from a darkened corner of the alley. Lowen immediately stops and pulls Aeben behind him. The man steps out of the shadow, revealing an unkempt appearance: sandy blonde hair, matted and dirty, with tanned skin and patches of facial hair around his jawline. His clothes were equally messy with a torn green tshirt and stained beige shorts tattered at the edges. He walked up slowly to the brothers, his eyes vacant and red with puffy bags under his eyes. He looked malnourished and sickly, skin seemingly hanging off his bones with very little meat in between. "No, sorry." Lowen responded and raised a hand between the two, signalling the man to stop walking. He stopped, but his body seemed unable to hold itself up when standing still. He smiled a sleezy smile at Lowen, revealing a set of rotten teeth, some missing at the gums. "That's alright. You can just give us everything you got and we'll be square." Another voice said behind the brothers. Lowen turned his head, eyes locking on the source, and saw a group of equally sinister and sickly looking men, five in total. Most of their clothes appeared just as tattered as the first man. The one who spoke, taller than the rest, had black hair and a bushy beard, and he tapped the end of a long wooden bat against his palm. He smiled wide as he did this and walked slowly towards Lowen. Lowen backed up so that he and Aeben were not in the middle of the two and allowed the other man to converge with his comrades. He made sure Aeben stayed behind him, and he could feel his hand gripping tightly and pulling the back of his jacket. The larger man noticed this and pointed his bat at Aeben. "Don't worry, little man. So long as you give us what you got, there ain't no reason this got to get ugly." The man spoke with an accent, most likely from the northern region of Julian given his slightly broken speech. Suddenly, a force smashed against the goon's face, distorting it like a cartoon, and he was propelled back past the other assailants, hitting the side of one of the buildings. His unconscious body slid down the wall and into a garbage bin where the lid shut closed. The other men stared back at their beaten friend and then back towards Lowen and Aeben. There Lowen stood with his hand curled into a tight fist, seriousness on his face. "Don't ever threaten my brother." He said. His words were strong, matching the tone of his expression. Aeben peaked his head from behind his older brother, wide eyed and stunned at Lowen's strength. The other men paused for a moment, still trying to grasp what had happened before one of them finally broke out. "This kid is a FIGHTer." He exclaimed, his voice high pitched and cracking under the shock of who Lowen was. The others gasped as well, it setting in who they unfortunately had chosen to mug. Seeing their faces turn pale white made Lowen smirk. His eyes flashed steely determination and he lunged at the group. With one single step, he closed the distance immediately, his body moving like a blur, and struck the shrieking one with an elbow in the sternum, causing him to fold from the hit and drop to his knees clutching his stomach. It appeared as though all the air had escaped his lungs as he gasped. Lowen was impressed when the others all tried to attack him at once, commending them for their somewhat bravery. He knew that he outclassed them in every aspect as he dodged their attacked gracefully, either moving his body to completely avoid the blows, or simply slapping them away with his hands. He strategically pushed one of the bandit's fist so that its path would send it into the face of another. Using the momentary distraction caused by his comrade yelling at the other, Lowen struck them both with a leaping split kick that knocked them to the ground. That left only one more opponent to defeat and without warning a bat was coming down on him. The sound of it was enough time for Lowen to react and he turned quickly and caught it with his bare hand. The remaining bandit froze in equal parts shock and terror. His eyes grew bug eyed and he tried to pull away from Lowen, only to find himself unable to move the bat free of Lowen's grasp. It was as if the bat was stuck in a vice and the bandit didn't have the strength to free it. The harder the bandit strained to pull the bat from Lowen's hand, the more Lowen smiled. And eventually he let it go and watched as the wooden club struck the bandit's face, knocking himself out in the process. Lowen stood there for a moment and scanned the area to make sure none of them were getting up for another surprise attack. He looked back at Aeben, whose eyes were still wide and gleaming like stars. "Woooow." Aeben said, stretching the word out as to capture the amazement of his brother's strength. Lowen just nodded and smiled, raised a hand and gave his little brother a thumbs up. "Too easy." Lowen said with some measure of arrogance, though remained light hearted for his brother's sake. Part 3. Gold and Lyon Aeben as sitting on his brother's shoulders, hands on the top of Lowen's head as the two made their way to the ferry to head back to Whorl. After the light workout back in the alley, Lowen thought it would be better for both brothers to stay on the main roads with other people. They walked down a bustling road leading to the docks. The street filled with shops and large window displays. As they walked down past the different stores something caught Lowen's eyes. Behind the large glass wall were several sized monitors where a match between two fighters were being held. It wasn't a main event or anything as grand, just a local match between two combatants sanctioned by the league. One of the types of matches that fighters can participate are local leagues, which allow any newcomers to build experience and credit to allow them access to bigger bouts. Every fighter starts out at the local level. That's how Lowen was earning his credits, fighting matches in the Local Leagues. Unfortunately, you can only earn points in matches of similar ranking or ones that are one step below or above. Battling against an opponent with a lower rank garners a smaller number of points, matches of equal rank garner an average amount of points, while a match against a higher ranked opponent yields a much larger amount. Anything more than a one rank difference yielded no points because it would be too easy if it were lower, and too difficult if it were higher. All Lowen needed to do was win one more ranked match and he would have enough points to get into The Circuit, where the prize money would be enough to pay for Aeben's treatments for a long time. As Lowen watched the two combatants clash against one another, he started to dream about what it would be like to be at the top of the League. To be champion. The screen on the largest monitor switches to a large man draped in gold, with shiny golden hair swept back. At the bottom of the screen, appearing on a banner was the name Gideon Gold, the current GIFL Champion, and member of the Gold Family, the most powerful family in BattleScar. Every time Lowen saw Gideon he couldn't help but be marveled by the gilded champion. Gideon is an unstoppable force, holding the title for two years now. His power is unmatched by any in the league and has never been defeated except for one time. Lowen recalls the man named Lyon, considered the most powerful fighter to ever participate in the GIFL. He held the longest reign as champion, 3 years total, and has never lost a fight. What makes Lyon so incredible is that he also possessed no Gear, and even without it, he could fight and defeat any Gear User. Lyon was a powerhouse, a man of monstrous Drive, who has defeated opponents in a single blow. His last fight was against Gideon Gold over two years ago and actually crippled the Gold family member. Gideon's father, Othniel Gold, President of BattleScar and the highest ranking member in the Circle of Seven, banished Lyon from the League after his son's embarrassing defeat. Lowen recalls the public backlash the League suffered after Lyon was removed, but the one thing that he learned from training and fighting in matches is that the people of BattleScar are hungry for battles. And eventually the greatest fighter in the history of the GIFL faded into obscurity. "C'mon, Lowen, we're gonna miss the ferry." Aeben tapped Lowen on the top of the head. Lowen quickly snapped out of it and pretended like he was going to let go of Aeben by quickly dropping. "Hey!" Aeben squealed and Lowen laughed. The two made their way down to the docks and boarded the boat back to Whorl. As the two stood on the astern, they watched the gleaming city of Julius shrink off into the distance all the while Lowen thought about when he would get his next fight. Unbeknownst to him, a tall, broad figure stood in the shade of an overhang and watched Lowen. His beady eyes fixated on the older Heartz. "Time to put the Heartz name six feet under like his old man." He said in an almost animal like growl. Chapter Details Characters *Lowen Heartz *Aeben Heartz *Lyon (Mentioned) *Gideon Gold (Mentioned) Gears Used None. Techniques Used None. Abilities Used None.